Shingyo Style Secrets [Shishiyuki, Makoto]

Shishiyuki smiled a touch as Makoto turned from her, rather glad to be able to offer this to her. It was just a common courtesy, after all, but it indicated a closeness that she found she had developed with very few in her life. It occurred to her that she did not have a washcloth on hand, but that was perfectly fine. She simply lathered her hands and used them instead.

"You have a quite well-developed back, you know. I feel most women tend not to consider the back enough in their training."

It did rather impress Shishiyuki as she ran her hands over Makoto's bare skin, and her touch did become a bit more interested, following the musculature with some care as she continued her efforts. It was simply interest as a martial artist, of course.

Bare hands. It really caught her off guard but the only sign she showed was a small flinch, it felt funny to say the least but not exactly unpleasant. Maybe the thing that caught her off guard even more was the probing and examining of her back.

"Is that so? I guess I just like to be thorough and not neglect any part of me."

Shifting back and forth in her spot. It was hard not to squirm from the ordeal and not to mention embarrassing, Makoto was relieved that she didn't show her face at the working of her back. Now if she could get her hands doing something to distract herself something like.. running her hands through her hair idly.

That worked.

Of course Shishiyuki noticed the faint response to her touch, and she did her best to shift her approach to try and make Makoto less uncomfortable with the matter. Of course, she was unsure why Makoto might have been uncomfortable to begin with, given their prior interactions, but even so.

"That is a commendable approach to bettering oneself, Makoto. Your commitment to thorough improvement is quite apparent. I ought to prepare a more elaborate lesson plan for when your assignment is completed, hm?"

That did seem like a good idea, the more that Shishiyuki considered it. Makoto's development had been swift, though not built upon any particular latent talents. It was a matter of effort, and Shishiyuki respected that far more. As she considered this, she finished with her efforts on Makoto's back, and poured a bit of water down it to rinse it off, running her hands down once or twice to assure everything was rinsed away.

"Might I ask you to return the favor for me?"

A more elaborate assessment? It did make her wonder about what that could be, they had already been quite varied. Practicals, expeditions and some theory. It felt like a bit of everything had been wrapped up into her training and all the various attempts to deliver it. She did give her response as a nod to confirm it. She had faith in Shishiyuki as a teacher.

"Do... you?"

She'd never actually tried to do anything like this to someone else. It made her a little worried that she'd mess it up but she ought to try it, shouldn't she? Especially if she had received the treatment herself, now she just felt indebted.

"Sure."

Making sure to awkwardly get around and try to remain hidden from sight until getting access to Shishiyuki's back, from there it was as simple as tentatively navigating it. She was very fickle about it to the point one might wonder if she was afraid that she'd get bitten for this new and unknown territory. It did give her a lot of time to think on her idle thoughts and particularly about Shishiyuki, did she like like this situation or was she just unfazed?

The fact that she couldn't tell didn't help her settle on the matter. It wasn't like she was just going to ask her something stupid like that.

"Thank you kindly."

Shishiyuki accomodated Makoto's efforts rather casually, still not thinking anything of the situation beyond the apparent truth of it. After all, what else might there be to think about? It did surprise her when she finally felt Makoto's hands, however, and there was a degree of unfamiliarity to the situation that she had not particularly anticipated. It felt rather different from the norm, though hardly in an unpleasant way.

"I doubt that we will run across one another until your assignment is completed, but it would be rather nice, wouldn't it? I do travel down to Earth from time to time, after all."

"I suppose you're right, the world's pretty big though. It does seems pretty unlikely though."

Makoto was careful to not narrow down the region where she was currently situated, if only because it was still a secret assignment. Taking her hands away from the bare back and a small sigh of relief at the way she could relax now that her hands weren't doing the delicate task of trying to wash Shishiyuki's back right.

"So.. why did you leave the Gotei?"

It only really occured to her to ask this question now after the discussion of the assignment, she didn't really look into Shishiyuki but she assumed that someone of her skills had been involved with it before but not anymore.

"Well, I would certainly never cling to the expectation. It would fall much more into the realm of a pleasant surprise."

As she rinsed herself off once more, Shishiyuki thought about the question Makoto had posed. It was something of a sensitive topic, was it not? At least, in her mind. But, then, it was a matter that had not been particularly relevant in the Soul Society for centuries now, at least not until her niece's recent return. It followed that Makoto would not know of it.

"I felt it for the best that I separate myself from the organization after my sister's exile. While her work was primarily with the Onmitsukido, I felt there was something of a professional stigma regarding the family that would likely not have been within my grasp to handle, regardless of my service in the Combat Squad. Considering that, and the degree of attention that the whole affair required as head of the family, I chose to remove myself."

It wasn't especially complicated, she felt, nor was it something that merited any delicacy in speaking of it. After all, Shishiyuki had long since simply accepted that this was the way things had gone, and as she stepped into the hot water of the onsen, there did not seem to be any stress or malice in her expression.

"It was simply for the best for all parties, I suppose."

Makoto wanted to understand the logic behind that but she couldn't. She didn't come from any prestige, any place where she had a name to consider. Her family had been nobodies, she was even more of a nobody once they died and she wandered around. The idea of feeling compelled to leave the Gotei because of something like that was incomprehensible to her since she could never empathise to it.

"I see. You haven't grown dull in your retirement though."

Trying to compliemnt her to reduce the tension she felt asking her about her tenure in the Gotei. Makoto almost forgot that she was finished washing to and hastily followed into the onsen, sitting down as far as she could get so that it was only her neck out of the water.

The water did feel kind of nice.

"I should hope not. The Koizumi family has always taken pride in its martial arts, even if our history is not so illustrious as that of other houses."

Of course, that was in many respects a falsehood. Many of the most basic principles of hakuda had been born from Ichibyou Senkuka's 108 schools, and the Koizumi had such a wide scope of mastery over these techniques that one might have even said that modern hakuda would not exist without the input of the Koizumi. But that, of course, was history forbidden to outsiders, and Shishiyuki would certainly not reveal it.

She did, however, feel faintly guilty about that.

"Teaching has certainly allowed me to maintain myself in ways that mere practice could not. It is good, to interact with new minds. Students such as yourself force me to think about situations in a new light."

"Right..."

She wanted to express that it didn't matter that they weren't as illustrious as the other houses but Makoto stopped herself from saying it, she didn't know how Shishiyuki would react. On one hand she didn't seem like she cared about being acknowledged for accomplishments but she seemed to care about her family. It was better to just not say anything.

"Really? What exactly have I taught you? I feel like it's only me that's receiving any growth from this."